Veneer
by Reiven
Summary: Misty-centric. One-sided Meia/Misty. Misty was never in love with Hibiki the way people thought she way. It was just a façade. It was just normal and more than anything else, Misty longed for normalcy.


_Standard disclaimer applies._

**A/N**: This fic was a long time coming, nor necessarily the plot or pairing, just the fic itself. Vandread is without a doubt, my number one favourite anime of all time, so it's only proper that I have _at least_ one for the fandom to my name.

Although this story's pairing is stated as being Meia/Misty, there's nothing that goes beyond canon.

**Veneer  
**_By Reiven_

**M**isty was never in love with Hibiki the way people thought she way. It was just a façade. It was just normal and more than anything else, Misty longed for normalcy.

Hibiki was a guy; a normal, self-centered, cute in a clumsy way and oblivious guy. He was the guy she used to read in books about adventures, in tales of courage and heroics who rose above all others despite great doubt. Hibiki wasn't a genius or astoundingly good looking or a high ranking superior. He was just a guy who got caught up in a fight and thrived.

Misty likes Hibiki in a way people think to be love, or at least, what they would have think as love if it were normal. Hibiki is normal, self-centered, clumsy and oblivious; most of all, Hibiki makes Misty forget that she has nothing left.

Misty used to have a family. She had parents and they were scientists. She used to have a home and it was beautiful. She used to have a room and it was blue, with a sprinkle of white flowers painted in the corner. She used to have a dog and his name was Q-chan. He loved her as much as she loved him, unconditionally.

The only thing she has now is herself, a corporeal memory of Q-chan, a ship full of strangers that doesn't want her there and the knowledge that her parents sent her off to save her, but in the end condemned her to loneliness.

Misty disliked Dita from the first time she saw her because, most of all, Dita was everything Misty wanted to be; cheerful, carefree and liked. Dita is the person Misty _was_ before her home was destroyed and everything she loved was taken away. Dita had friends that cared about her, that would protect her with their life. Dita had a place to call home, somewhere she could run back to when she was sad and back to people who would let her cry on their shoulder. Dita was lucky and Misty wanted what she had. She wanted her friends and the affection that Hibiki returned, though he denied it.

Misty wants to be Dita and that's why she hates her so much.

But where she hated Dita, she liked Ezra. Ezra was like the older sister she never had; someone who smiled at her and told her everything was going to be all right. Ezra asked her all the time how she was feeling, whether she was fitting in with the crew and if she had already eaten breakfast.

Misty feels her fake smile falter every time she has to open her mouth and tell Ezra a lie.

Misty liked Duero in a way that was entirely platonic. He was the brother figure to Misty where Ezra was her sister. He seldom said much unless he was diagnosing an injury or when he found something that baffled, yet intrigued him in the same way. Misty liked Duero where he never asked her to tell him anything she didn't want to reveal, like her feelings or her pain. He would ask her to pass the chart and let her sit beside him as he worked on his patient.

Misty spends most of her time in the medical bay, because Duero doesn't make her feel unwanted. Sometimes, even if just a little, whenever he asks her to fetch something or put something away, he makes Misty feel just that much more useful.

Misty doesn't know Bart all that well, but he's like the eccentric uncle that brings grapes over to your house when he comes to visit and finishes it all before he leaves.

Besides Hibiki and, for the most part, Dita, Misty doesn't really know the crew of the Nirvana all that well. Nearly all of them hate her (like Jura and bridge crew), and the rest don't pay her any attention (like Parfet and the technical staff), but in the end, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter that things aren't normal. It doesn't matter that Hibiki doesn't look at her the way he looks at Dita. It doesn't matter that the crew like her as much they do the Harvest.

None of it matters anymore, because Misty loves Meia in a way that isn't at all platonic.

Meia doesn't expect her to be anything more than what she is. Meia doesn't tell her lies and give her fake words of comfort or pretend to care. Meia doesn't say anything; she only put her arms around Misty and allows her to cry out her sorrows into her chest.

Misty loves Meia because that's what love is supposed to feel like. When you feel a flutter in your stomach just by being close. When you can cry out heart out in front her without fear of ridicule. When you feel like everything will be all right, just because she's there.

In an existence where machines rule and humans struggle to live from day to day, where normal was a definition lost with age old beliefs and trust; Meia is someone Misty comes to realize that she needs, because Meia doesn't expect her to be nice and she doesn't ask her to stop crying. Meia doesn't ask her to do anything; she only opens up her arms, welcoming, and lets Misty cry until she feels better.

That's why Misty loves Meia and why one day, she hopes that Meia will come to love her back.

_...The end._


End file.
